Report: Celtics to sign Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet to rest of season contracts

Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Boston Celtics plan to fill two of their five open roster spots by signing Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet to contracts for the remainder of the season:

Hauser has been with the Celtics on a Two-Way contract this season. He’s seen minimal action with Boston, playing only 41 minutes in 10 appearances.

In 20 games (18 starts) with the Maine Celtics of the G League, Hauser has been a shooting star. He’s averaged 19 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists in over 34 minutes per game. The standout number is that Hauser is shooting 42.6% on 9.8 three-point attempts per contest.

Luke Kornet has spent the bulk of the season with Maine, after Boston waived him following the preseason. Kornet did have 10-day hardship callups with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks earlier this season.

In 17 games (all starts) with Maine, Kornet has averaged 13.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.1 blocks per game. For his NBA career, Kornet has averaged 5.7 points over 136 games.

Kornet finished the 2020-21 season with Boston, after being acquired at the trade deadline. In 18 games, he averaged 4.4 points and 1.4 blocks per contest.

Earlier in the day on Friday, Celtics President of Basketball Operations acknowledged that Boston would need to add two players in fairly short order before playing the Denver Nuggets on Friday evening. Stevens also said that with five open roster spots, the Celtics would be prioritizing shooting and “ideally, shooting with size”. Both Hauser and Kornet fit that bill.

Hauser and Kornet should also be fairly seamless fits with the Celtics, given their existing experience with the team and organization. With a roster that is short on depth, it is helpful to have players who can be plugged in right away.

After signing Hauser and Kornet, Boston will be left with three standard roster spots open, as well as one Two-Way spot.